Guest Post: Rush Hour Doesn’t Have to Suck

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How do you turn rush hour into a productive, calming time? While in the past I’ve used my subway commute to catch up on reading via Read it Later (now Pocket) or writing, guest poster Rebecca Hulse has a much more meditative, reflective take on it. How do you spend your rush hour, readers? Do you make time for meditation or some of the other strategies that Rebecca suggests? – Kat

On average, 50 minutes of your day is taken up in rush hour traffic commutes, either in a car or on public transportation, and most people don’t relish this time. Why the heck not? This time is mostly spent by yourself, in a space where you are not encouraged to converse with others — at any other time who wouldn’t jump with joy to have a full 50 minutes to yourself? So let’s be efficient, ladies, and multitask! (Pictured.)

So how can you turn this solitary time into quality pampering for your soul?

You could: Meditate, listen to affirmations, personal development, resonance music, read something beautiful, practice ho’oponopono techniques on every person you see, manifest your dreams, be inspired though gratitude, breathe deeply, do laughter yoga, sing (maybe best if you’re in your own car), visualise your new car. All the things you never have done because you have ‘never had time for them’. No excuse now huh?

Let’s focus on meditation. Meditation is proven to provide three times as much rest and rejuvenation in three minutes of sitting compared to one night’s sleep. Meditation is usually described an inwards focus generally on the details of your breath and the emptying of thoughts.

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The aim is not to shut out thoughts but to guide your focus back to your breath and body awareness every time your ‘monkey mind’ chimes in. This monkey mind is your brain sifting though experiences it hasn’t yet figured out. When we are busy there is no time to filter, figure out and sort experiences and resolve them. This is a survival technique the brain uses to store experiences for the next time this stress occurs. At first you might have monkey thoughts like “I need to do the groceries” and as those thoughts sift down maybe even after a few practices it might tell you thoughts and wishes more like “I never did try out for that part” and if you allow it you can really get into a beautiful deep place where this monkey mind can show you deep dreams and desires you have been aching for internally perhaps for a long time.

Meditation is a practice that is really worth its time especially in the long run. It can increase productivity, health and well-being, still your mind, create calm, create body and thought/feeling awareness and I have even seen pictures where a month of meditation has reversed wrinkles! Make a commitment to try meditation for every commute you can. Set a reminder if you have to on your phone, Google calendar. Make it work for you and let us know your insights and experiences with meditation in the comments below!

Readers, do you meditate often? In an ideal world, how do you use your time spent commuting?

Rebecca Hulse is a life coach, professional dancer, Hulse family legacy and manifestor. She coaches women through overwhelm, tough bitch behaviour and unsatisfaction to fabulous transformation at Rebeccahulse.com.

Comments

I don’t meditate regularly, but I do enjoy it on the rare occasions that I have.

I spend my commute on the subway reading. I used to watch video podcasts of the news on my way to work, but my New Years resolution was to read more so that’s what I’ve been doing. I read both fiction and nonfiction and have everything on my iPad and phone so that I can read whatever I want regardless of whether I’m standing or sitting on the subway. It’s been a nice change from the news and seems to make the ride seem shorter. Plus, I’ve read more books for pleasure this year than I have since I was a kid.

-1 Thank you so much your your honesty and comment. Your are absolutely right – Not everyone suits the same coach. If you want to see more of who I am you could check out my page. Its hard to tell from two sentences :) Love and Fabuliciousness Rebecca

Marilla coaching through overwhelm of whelm (love the word) is sussing through the mess. We would pinpoint your exact distress and unwind it so you could continue on with your life fulfilled and on top of things

This is unreal. From her website, “I am rich, sassy, happy, healthy Rebecca – Legacy of the Hulse family”

Kat, this is just embarrassing. Di d you vet this person at all before allowing her to guest post? I mean, I get that you want to make money off this blog, and need some “link love” to do that, but this guest poster is just ridiculous. The kind of junk “feel better” crap she is espousing is not helpful, and seems like it could actually be harmful to the gullible.

Who calls themselves a ‘legacy’?!?! Normally I find the guest bloggers and linked articles on this site to be of fairly high quality, but this girl is just wack…. Anyone who’s looking to the ‘Legacy of the Hulse family’ should jump ship ASAP.

Also, as some other posters mentionted, you don’t have to be a specific age to offer great advice – life, or otherwise – but as a 24 year old myself, I can honestly say that nobody should be taking ‘life coaching’ services from me……

As someone who meditates regularly, I too find this post quite embarrassing, and a bit of an insult to the intelligence and professionalism of your readers. Valley girl meets new-agey “The Secret”-bs isn’t helpful self-care advice, and, as other readers have commented, the idea that you can just “will” everything that you want to you is potentially harmful.

The real shame of it is, the title of the post really caught my interest. It’s a great topic that I hope you have someone with a little more relevant expertise in to contribute some other time.

I have a half-hour commute each way, by car. While it’s not a long commute by any means, I still get discouraged at spending 5 hours in the car.

Here recently, I started listening to books on cd/tape, and it’s a relaxing way to get to and from work. I get some from the library, and just bite the bullet and buy some. I would download from itunes, but I can’t find a good connection to play my ipod in my car (older model, no ipod dock). Typical novel takes 10-12 hours to read, so about 2 weeks. I read much faster, so it kills me to wait until the commute home!

I kind of forget that I do it until I’m ready to leave home or work–then I get excited to learn what will happen! Kind of like when your teacher would read you a chapter of a book after recess every day!

I actually had an embarassing issue with remembering to turn the car off when I get into the garage and the book is at a particularly interesting point! Sheesh! All this education, and I might asphyxiate myself accidentally by wanting to know what happened next in my book on CD.

Actually, what I really miss the most about my 45 minute drive each way during law school was the opportunity to listen to so much NPR, esp. This American Life. What a show. Now I have a 15 walk to work and it’s not enough time to listen to much of anything (not that I’m complaining – I love my short commute).

I listen to books on cd as well. Currently listening to a Ken Follet novel of 24 CDs and my commute of 40 mins each way flys by. And, I too sometimes find myself looking forward to getting into the car to listen to what will happen next.

I second books on CD. I have been doing this for a few months now and the stress from my commute has greatly diminished. I also linger in the car “with a good book” when I get into the garage. I am finishing up “The Elegance of the Hedgehog” and liking it a lot. I have also had a great time listening to “No.1 Ladies Detective Agency” and Donald Westlake’s Dortmunder novels.

If you have a tape deck, they make these tape to ipod plug in things. If you have a cd player you can use one of those radio transmitters which can help. plug into your c- lighter and then turn your radio to a fuzzy station and set the transmitter to the same. plug into your ipod and you’re good.

Also, see if you can get an after-market upgrade to directly connect your ipod to your car stereo. It’s not supposed to be particularly expensive to have someone else do it and would make your life much better.

In sum, pimp your ride so you can listen to your books on tape in style ;)

I agree; it’s pretty inexpensive to do the upgrade to hook your mp3 player directly to your stereo. I priced it out at Best Buy once and it was about $120 or so. However, my husband is one of those handy types and did it for the cost of the parts (about $30, if I remember correctly).

As far as what I do during my commute, I’ve got a 30 minute drive to school and/or work and I only listen to music. I can’t do books on tape, NPR, or anything else that is spoken, because I simply tune it out. I listen to music and have a couple of playlists I rotate through, depending on my day and mood.

This happens to me all the time! FYI – I LOVE listening to audiobooks and the overdrive app has been a huge money saver for me. The app allows you to “borrow” audiobooks from your local librarys digital online database and listen to them on your phone/ipod. I listen to books while I commute (I walk to work) and while I’m at work (a majority of ppl use headphone in my office). I haven’t paid for an audiobook in months!!!

Additionally, I listen to a lot of podcast – this American life, the moth radio hour (live story telling – this is prob my fav), 60 minutes, freak-economics, ted talks, how stuff works, and stuff you missed in history class, and the list goes on… I have found that the sticher app is great for this because I can create a “channel” with all my favorite podcasts in one location.

Does anyone know of any cheap-ish places to get custom suits made? I know a ton of places for men, but the custom women’s places (e-shakti) only seem to be for cute day dresses and stuff. I’m plus size (on the larger end) and really want a navy suit after they were featured the other day. And I love love love my one custom made button down and want another.

There are a few tailors from Hong Kong that regularly come over and do fittings and make custom suits for relatively reasonable prices. Maybe ask around in your local area to see if anyone knows of one.

I had three gorgeous shirts, a full cashmere-wool suit (blazer, skirt pants) and another pair of slacks made in Singapore for under $600, and my friend told me it would have been less if I had been less of a blathering, exclamatory idiot about how gorgeous it all was. (She is not native, but was a local). Ping me in a few days and I can get the details–they’re called Oxford Tailor and they were on the third floor of a swanky downtown shopping mall.

I’ve had good experiences with Siam tailors in Bangkok (google them), they post me fabric samples and I post them my custom made suits & shirts to copy . They post back your clothes with your new ones.

It’s not so cheap, but very good quality materials and nice designs. My only concern is that whereas when I bought a suit there, they took the measurements onsite and would make adjustments, now you have to have the measurements taken elsewhere and pay for any adjustments. In my experience, no tailored piece fits right on the first try (I’ve had other custom suits and a custom dress, and all required multiple fittings) so I’m skeptical of anything where adjustments aren’t included.

As a counterpoint to this good advice, I would also advocate thinking deeply about what you would be willing to sacrifice for a shorter commute. I chose to live in a 600 square foot, one bedroom house with my husband, son (up to age 2 1/2) and 50 lb dog for those years. One of the huge payoffs was that both my husband and I had 10 minute commutes. While I sometimes cursed as I unpacked the bedroom closet to find a particular rarely used pair of boots and then had to repack it afterwards, for us it led to huge payoff in flexibility. Despite both working full time in the unpredictable world of clinical medicine we rarely paid our nanny overtime because we weren’t paying her to cover us and our long commute. I was able to come home for an hour for a busy weekend call because it was only 10 minutes away. For many, living in that small of a house would be unthinkable, but for us our lack of commute (in Seattle) was worth it.

I completely agree with this! Not everyone’s work, financial or home situation may be compatible with choosing a shorter commute, but it’s certainly something to consider. For me, having less space/privacy is vastly outweighed by the extra hours in my life that a short commute allows.

This was our choice, too. It’s certainly not for everyone, but I was willing to give up a lot in terms of square footage, yard (can we even call it that?), and fabulous finishes in order to keep my commute reasonable.

And, honestly, even I underestimated the cost savings. My husband and I both take public transit to work which is much cheaper than driving and parking (less than 1/3 of the cost), we rarely drive so our gas and car wear-and-tear costs are extremely low, and we have been able to avoid buying a second car.

Seconded. So lovely to be able to walk to work in fine weather (and there is the opportunity to listen to podcasts!) and to be able to nick home quickly if you forget something, have a tradesman coming or just want to get home and see your partner quickly. The bonus is all the money you actually save on petrol & car costs and not getting so much takeaway because you are home sooner.

This is something I’d like to see discussed further, maybe in a blog post with someone’s experience. We’re in the DC area, and I’ve been internally debating this same issue. We have a 2 year old (but no 50 lb dog!) and I just can’t decide if I could do it or not. But that I-95 traffic sure does make it tempting…

Honestly, I’ve never found a way to make a commute by car a positive experience. You have to pay too much attention. Commuting by metro, on the the other hand, was a dream for me. Time to listen to my ipod and read the free newspaper! It totally gave me some “me” time before getting into the office (admittedly I was getting on at the end of the line on the way to work so I usually had a seat on the way to work and for some portion of the evening commute).

I don’t get this either. My commute is only about 15 minutes, but that’s 2 miles of stop and go traffic with cars weaving lanes in front of you the entire time, followed by about a half mile of trying not to run over the light rail riders who wander downtown streets aimlessly with no concern for crosswalks or traffic lights.

Then another half mile doing laps up a 15-story parking garage, usually behind someone who’s never been in a parking garage before and insists on driving 1 mph to find the first spot available, even if it means backing up into the line of 20 cars behind them, instead of just proceeding up to level 8 where there are hundreds of open spots.

Reading. Apparently some people use it to apply their make up and do their hair, which is a big pet peeve of mine. I’d prefer not to see the underside of your eye lid as you apply eye line or have you drop your powder case on me when the subway stops abruptly.

I once had a commute where every morning, a girl did full Goth makeup on the bus, winged liquid eyeliner and all. I could not figure out how she managed it. It’s all I can do to put on lipstick when the bus is stopped. Even then, well, results are not guaranteed.

I’ve had a spate of people nail-clipping (one even toenail-clipping! gross!) near me on the Metro recently, and that drives me a little crazy, but shaving would take it to a whole new level.

On topic– I have had both long car commutes and a long subway commute. For the average day, I prefer subway– I read, do the crossword puzzle, play stupid games on my phone if I’ve had a particularly brain-frying day. The only thing I miss about driving is NPR. I could never get into audiobooks for my commute because my Beltway road rage would distract me from the story. I do love audiobooks for long-distance car trips, though.

Granted my commute is only about 15 minutes each way (and could be shorter if I took surface roads, but would require stop-and-go which makes me crazy in the morning), but I actually like the time alone in the car. In the morning, I either listen to the news on CNN, or if I’m “off” the news (because I get really grumpy when the news cycle gets too political), I listen to music to get “pumped” for the day. In the evening, I listen to quieter music to unwind on the way home.

This seems like a good time to ask for summer reading suggestions. I have a pool weekend and some long flights coming up. I’ll start:

Isabel Wilkerson, “The Warmth of Other Suns.”

It is about the Great Migration (of African Americans out of the South roughly 1890-1970). Aside from the fact that I was embarrassed not to have learned more about the realities of Jim Crow in school, the entire book was fascinating and I could not put it down. It is over 500 pages, and I think I read it in a couple days. Very well written — a combination of well footnoted research/history and interviews/memoirs.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. Special Topics in Calamity Physics — I cried for the last 100 pages or so though, so maybe not a good “public” read. For a really breezy, silly one, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me by Mindy Kaling.

I just started a book that is a little fluffier than what I’d normally read but has proved great for the beach/a flight (or a long commute): Summer at Tiffany by Marjorie Hart. It’s about two college friends from Iowa who move to NYC for the summer during WWII and become the first women to work on the sales floor at Tiffany & Co. I bought it mainly because it was “on sale” for $3 on my Nook, but I’m enjoying it so far. It’s funny and cute.

I also enjoyed Ann Pratchett’s “State of Wonder,” which is a little less fluffy but still enjoyable fiction. Mindy Kaling’s “Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?” was also funny.

I’m late to this party, but I finished Tina Fey’s Bossypants recently and really liked it. Good combination of funny and professional perspective/advice/wisdom. Plus, it’s written by Tina Fey, so you can imagine her facial expressions as you’re reading it.

Bossypants is also a great audiobook – Tina Fey narratives it herself, so it’s hysterical. Only way I manage to force myself to do chores like cleaning out my closet – bribing myself with a good audiobook

I commute with my husband everyday by car. We work about a mile apart, and he drops me off and parks at his office. I love it. It’s only about 20 minutes door-to-door, but we get to talk about everything that’s making us anxious before we get to work, and decompress about the day on the way home. It’s my favorite commute ever.

Anyone who actually practices meditation would never do it while driving. Also, what does this mean: Rebecca Hulse is a life coach, professional dancer, Hulse family legacy and manifestor. She coaches women through overwhelm, tough bitch behaviour and unsatisfaction to fabulous transformation at Rebeccahulse.com.

My husband often has an hour-long commute every morning and evening (he’s at different sites during the week) and uses the time to listen to lectures on tape/streaming through his iphone. He loves it – he hates driving, especially in the city/during rush hour, so it turns those potentially frustrating hours into productive and valuable ones.

I have a 15-20 minute bus ride every day.. I use it to listen to bad music and/or text my sisters/friends. Same if I walk (about 45 mins to an hour) – I call friends or family or listen to bad music just to let my brain relax and transition to/from work.

I have a walking commute and usually listen to music. I am a dork and amuse myself by experimenting with how to achieve my “personal best” walk time while minimizing walking near dumpster alleys and sewer vents. This sometimes means waiting at a light even if I could cross the opposite direction, thereby setting myself up better for the intersection a few blocks away :)

you and me both. i’ve been very spoiled by six years of walking to work. the one thing i miss about driving rather than walking is the ability to sing along with whatever i’m listening to…but it’s a more than fair trade-off.

They’re short, because the (adult) brain doesn’t absorb large chunks of foreign language grammar too easily, perfect for repetitions/grammar exercises. Audio-only focuses you on getting your pronunciation right. (I brush up on the writing stuff later when I’m not in the car.)

Can’t do audiobooks because the sections aren’t subdivided enough to deal with my being distracted (if I lose my place, going back one always puts me too far back within that section, and then I zone out thinking I’ll zone back into the place where I left off and then have to do this 5 times and get frustrated.)

For Spanish– which I’d taken in junior high and continued until I went to college, (which gives me an advantage, and, I think dilutes the strength of this rec if you’re starting from zero), I started at Level 2 of the Behind The Wheel Spanish. It was fine, not stellar. I just needed to refresh, so if I were learning from scratch, I think I’d try Pimsleur.

I did Pimsleur for (Mandarin) Chinese, and that was a very good program. One downside is there are a number of exercises that one will need to consult the booklet to do, but that can be done before you get in the car or after you arrive. I really listened the heck out of these CDs (which I ripped to my ipod) to get the pronunciation, because Chinese is a tough language for native English speakers.

I will echo the amazing effects of meditation. I don’t do it often but from time to time my husband and I will go to a nearby meditation center on Sundays and sit for the 2 hour session. Sounds like a long time, but pretty amazing how fast it goes by once you get into it. After that meditation, I will feel amazing and my mood will be uplifted for the rest of the week.

Never tried meditation while commuting though – I think I would get easily distracted.

I listen to books on tape on Audible. If you have an Audible account you can just download the app onto your smartphone and play it from there. With every monthly Audible subscription you get points to purchase your next book.

I’ve been listening to “Bonfire of the Vanities” for a while now during my commute. Awesome book. Highly recommend it if you haven’t read it yet.

Am I the only one who wanted to smack/shake all of the major characters? I get that is kind of the point of the book but the writing wasn’t good enough (IMHO) to get me past how grating I found them all. If you did like it though, I’d recommend the emperor’s children. Very very reminiscent of bonfire.

I have an enormously unquiet mind, so meditation isn’t for me. It stresses me out, actually, because it feels so unnatural to me.

One thing that I have come to enjoy about my driving commute is that, unlike my bus commute, I can’t answer email or take calls while driving (yes, there are headsets, but they don’t actually do that much to reduce the safety risks associated with cellphone use while driving). I listen to NPR, or if I don’t like the program that’s one, to podcasts or downloaded Spotify playlists. It’s relaxing for the most part. It does help that my commute is surface streets and that I don’t really sit in traffic.

It is also hard to take someone seriously as a life coach when they are 20 years old. I’m not saying you have to be X years of age to have life experience, but I’ve been 20, and I wasn’t qualified to share any of my wisdom with anyone!

I’m now actually shuddering at the thought of anyone listening to my 20-year old self and following that advice…

“Meditation is proven to provide three times as much rest and rejuvenation in three minutes of sitting compared to one night’s sleep.”

Is she seriously trying to say that 3-min of meditation is *proven* to be 3x more restful than a night of sleep? LOL, legacy-girl should become a nanny. She can stay up all night with babies and see how far her 3-min of meditation gets her.

I commute by car and I like to listen to the radio (I’m sad because my favorite morning show team is breaking up tomorrow after 25 years!) and also I call my mom and chat a few times a week in the morning. Don’t worry, I have a hands-free bluetooth built into my car! On the way home I often chat on the phone with my husband.

My favorite way to commute is via a bycycle. The big hill at the end of 5 miles provides an extra energy boost! That said, my job provides offices and interacting with others is not mandatory, beyond attending meetings. Also, our dress code is business casual.